Sarah Feinberg Buys 500 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Director Sarah Feinberg acquired 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $31.48 per share, with a total value of $15,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $230,150.28. The trade was a 7.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $31.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.08, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price target (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,308,146,000 after acquiring an additional 426,878 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after acquiring an additional 2,896,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $475,092,000 after acquiring an additional 320,421 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $205,476,000 after acquiring an additional 372,313 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $202,219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,391,495 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.